posted at 2:30 pm on March 17, 2008 by Allahpundit

Barack Obama will give a major speech on “the larger issue of race in this campaign,” he told reporters in Monaca, PA just now.

He was pressed there, as he has been at recent appearances, on statements by his former pastor, Jeremiah Wright.

“I am going to be talking about not just Reverend Wright, but the larger issue of race in this campaign,” he said.

He added that he would “talk about how some of these issues are perceived from within the black church issue for example,” he said.

Maybe “the government lied about Pearl Harbor” is all a big cultural misunderstanding? Expect lots of redemption rhetoric about the Messiah rising like a phoenix from the ashes of the black nationalist movement he patronized for 20 years and how it’s objectively anti-progress to hold that inconvenient fact against him. Exit question: It’s good news, at least, that the congregation apparently no longer regards “Middleclassness” as some sort of vestige of slavery, isn’t it?

Update:Sounds like he’s going back to the cherry-picking defense, which, as others have pointed out, works for absolutely no one except Obama. Lott didn’t get a pass for it when he rued the day a segregationist like Strom Thurmond lost the presidential election; Michael Richards didn’t get a pass for it when he had a meltdown at that comedy club. The Messiah and his disciples are held to a different standard, thankfully.

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Any chance he will speak about the 70% birth rate out of wedlock or the problem with illegal’s under cutting American jobs which hurts the black community the most. Any chance he will be asked about his and his wife’s land deal with rezko??? I’m thinking more empty slogans from an empty suit.

That he has to say it is enough. It’s been understood all along: If he talks about race, he loses. Whatever he says tomorrow and however he says it, he’s now officially “the black candidate.”

And again, it’s not that that’s a bad thing or in and of itself would even have to be debilitating. But what it is is exactly what he not only hasn’t been selling, but has been selling himself as the remedy for up until now.

I have been of the opinion up until now that we on the right should have just kept quiet and let this empty suit get nominated, as Hillary is the tougher opponent, but now I am starting to wonder if she can win…simply because no Dem can without the black vote and this is starting to look like it ends badly for them regardless.

So, um…er…maybe I’ll have a little of that popcorn everyone’s been passing around.

Or then again, anyone else beginning to wonder if this might not spin out of partisan ugly and get really bad for an already ailing-on-so-many-fronts America?

Maybe Oprah will appear by the side of the messiah to appease viewers and listeners with their crappy view of race in the US. These two are such arrogant airheads. Neither can hide from the fact that they decided to go to the church of Wright and listen to this garbage.

I’d rather that he talk about what hatred of whites has to do with the Gospel of Jesus Christ? I’d rather that he talk about why his “spiritual advisor” – assuming arguendo that this means his “Christian advisor” – remained a part of his life for so many years – and after so much rhetoric concerning Wright’s hatred of whites and America? I’d rather know why asserting that Wright was never his “political advisor” changes the fact that he was and remains his “spiritual advisor”? I’d rather know why the politics of “change” doesn’t concern itself with the preaching of hatred from the pulpit? I’d rather know why Michelle Obama’s hatred for America and contempt for whites doesn’t reflect his beliefs – especially when her beliefs coincide with his “spiritual advisor’s” beliefs? At what point in time do the opinions of both his wife and his “spiritual advisor” translate into a reflection of his own beliefs?

I gotta ask: Is race really an issue in this campaign? Or is it simply being used as a tool amongst the candidates?

I’d suggest the latter. Nobody is questioning Obama’s fitness to lead based on his race. All the divisivness has arisen out of candidates posturing to make the other side appear to be a racist. In fact the only reason this “major speech” is going to be made is because the MSM finally picked up on the Rev. Wright and his racist demogogery.

I have a very strong feeling he will make this situation worse. The VERY far left in this country never has understood “middle America”. Right now they know something is amiss, but have no comprehension of just how toxic Wright’s professed beliefs are to BHO’s candidacy.

And folks will never buy the “guilt by association” disqualifier. BOH has been thoroughly documented proclaiming Wright’s profound influence on his values and philosophy.

Just needs to polish up the brand label a bit,..it seems a bit tarnished. I anticipate a full plate of rationalization as to why blacks feel so downtrodden, so it is only normal they would identify with Paster Wright. Don’t know how he’ll justify specifics like the AIDs thing, G-d damn america, or chickens coming home to roost. Pretty hard to do. Maybe Michelle can help him with that part.

Lott didn’t get a pass for it when he rued the day a segregationist like Strom Thurmond lost the presidential election; Michael Richards didn’t get a pass for it when he had a meltdown at that comedy club. The Messiah and his disciples are held to a different standard, thankfully.

yeah see the difference there is that Richards and Lott actually said things that were objectionable. Obama’s being flamed because his priest said things which are objectionable.

Expect lots of redemption rhetoric about the Messiah rising like a phoenix from the ashes of the black nationalist movement he patronized for 20 years

Obama’s church isn’t a black nationalist church. It doesn’t endorse black seperatism or supremacy. It’s painful to read when you show your ignorance, even if it’s simply for hyperbolic effect.

Axelrod described the Illinois senator as “a force for reconciliation” and said he wants the opportunity “to put this into context.”

Speaking with reporters, Obama said the media is portraying Wright inaccurately.

“I think the caricature that is being painted of him is not accurate, and so part of what I will do tomorrow is to talk about how these issues are perceived from within the black church community for example which I think skews this very differently.”

Just the fact he is talking about race means Hillary finally got him labeled like she wants. From here on out, he’s the black candidate. Wright was the main event following the Slick and Ferarro warm up acts.

If he feels the need to explain more than a disassociation, he admits being in deep doo-doo. Don’t do the speech BHO! Don’t do it! Oh heck he’s in crisis mode. Now we can see what kind of (lack) of character he has. Or is that doesn’t have?

Excellent! This will keep Wright’s hate-filled rants in the news all week. And it’s more potential fodder for the inevitable 527 ads. A win-win.

The cherry-picking defense will work for the Obamaniacs who love the Kool-Aid but the rest of the country won’t buy it. How many tapes are there? I hope whoever is sitting on still more Wright “sermons” releases some fresh video on Wednesday morning. Nothing clears the pallate like a dose of angry race-baiting disguised as religion. Bring it on.

He has to defend wright in the sense that it hurts the message of blacks being oppressed by whites. That is a key quiet componet of Obama’s run and if he doesnt stand up for that blacks will start to wonder “How black are you ?”

“I don’t care what people are saying Uptown or wherever they are. This city will be chocolate at the end of the day. This city will be a majority African-American city. It’s the way God wants it to be.”

What the O’Messiah will say….

“How do you make chocolate? You take dark chocolate, you mix it with white milk, and it becomes a delicious drink. That is the chocolate I am talking about. How is that divisive? It is white and black working together, coming together and making something special.”

Obama will humbly preen how totalitarian he is, knowing how “special” his life had been blessed, he wanted to share the wealth with the needy blacks and wait for his opportunity preach to follow up on Rev.Wright-Moses shoulders his own fascist-statist version of the gospel of prosperity to whites aka Joshua’s Generation to blacks.

Obama will hold his line with blanket non-descript but “good” sounding blurps. He forgives those who are wrong and would HOPE that others forgive him when he is caught with bad judgement proving his inability to tell the difference between right and wrong. After all, who is without sin, he will say.

He said he prays every night to Jesus. I would hope that Obama asks God for humility and a pure heart. Otherwise, chaulk that up as politics, pure and simple. What about his legislation to elevate political “ethics”? Again, he’ll claim he’s no worse than anyone else, and better because he HOPES FOR CHANGE and has determined to live the life of a chameleon, funneling all things to his people at one point or another.

That strategy will placate the media, giving them enough leeway to ignore Wright, but the damage is done for the general. Should Obama get the nod the potential for him to get the votes from the middle is gone. No matter how eloquent he is people aren’t going to to buy his “He NEVER said it in my presence” excuse especially since he said “He can get kinda rough in those sermons” and disinvited him from an event… He knew and anyone not drinking the kool-aid knows it. I hope he gets the nod. McCain could take FL, OH, and PA.

He has to defend wright in the sense that it hurts the message of blacks being oppressed by whites. That is a key quiet componet of Obama’s run and if he doesnt stand up for that blacks will start to wonder “How black are you ?”

I don’t see how a speech by Obama defending his pastor is going to help matters much. But I could be wrong.

I think you will be surprised tomorrow. He will probably give another inspiring speech and it will surely put the Rev. Wright issue to rest (at least with the mainstream media). As I believe it should be, like I’ve said before.

You just misunderstand the history and perspective of the Black church in America and besides, you’re taking the honorable Rev Wright completely out of context by not quoting the entire sermon from start to finish. And, if that’s not good enough, nothing Wright said was wrong!

/sarc

Man this speech is going to be good if he really goes down that road….

I don’t think it deserves to be rested. This hateful, spiteful man is Obama’s inspiration! And Tom Maguire brought up a great point- why would Obama continue to go to a church that would not welcom Obama’s own mother?

I think you will be surprised tomorrow. He will probably give another inspiring speech and it will surely put the Rev. Wright issue to rest (at least with the mainstream media). As I believe it should be, like I’ve said before.

terryannonline on March 17, 2008 at 3:08 PM

Defending Wright will erase what Wright said. Defending Wright will take away the trip to Lybia by his pastor. Defending Wright will take away the lifetime achievement award his church gave to Farrakhan. Defending Wright not is going to erase the 20 years of defense, money and support Obama has given that church.

Obama is a great orator but so was Stephen A. Douglas but Douglas was just plain wrong. Don’t get bowled over by oratory.

I think you will be surprised tomorrow. He will probably give another inspiring speech and it will surely put the Rev. Wright issue to rest (at least with the mainstream media). As I believe it should be, like I’ve said before.

terryannonline on March 17, 2008 at 3:08 PM.

Defending Wright will not erase what Wright said. Defending Wright will not take away the trip to Lybia by his pastor. Defending Wright will not take away the lifetime achievement award his church gave to Farrakhan. Defending Wright is not going to erase the 20 years of defense, money and support Obama has given that church.

Obama is a great orator but so was Stephen A. Douglas but Douglas was just plain wrong. Don’t get bowled over by oratory.

I don’t think it deserves to be rested. This hateful, spiteful man is Obama’s inspiration! And Tom Maguire brought up a great point- why would Obama continue to go to a church that would not welcom Obama’s own mother?

Is it just me or has the Obama phenomenon lost quite a bit of mojo recently? I spend a lot of time frequenting online conservative punditry, so sometimes it’s tough for me to distinguish between trends on the series of tubes and shifts in opinion in the real world. But it does actually seem like he’s lost some of his shine, compared to a month ago when he was well-nigh invincible, awaiting his coronation.

Wright in “Dreams of My Father” [Rich Lowry]
Before he ever thought he would have to deploy Clintonesque spin to try to get himself out of a campaign controversy, Barack Obama wrote (an achingly good) memoir. In the book, Obama makes it clear that Wright when he first got to know him was pretty much the same Wright we’re getting to know now (the one that Obama is at pains to say is on the verge of retirement). Wright was striking some of the same notes, saying racially venomous things and attacking the bombing of Hiroshima. Note this passage about the first sermon Obama heard from Wright, the source ultimately of the title of Obama’s second book and one of the central themes of his presidential campaign:

The title of Reverend Wright’s sermon that morning was “The Audacity of Hope.” He began with a passage from the Book of Samuel—the story of Hannah, who, barren and taunted by her rivals, had wept and shaken in prayer before her God. The story reminded him, he said, of a sermon a fellow pastor had preached at a conference some years before, in which the pastor described going to a museum and being confronted by a painting title Hope.

“The painting depicts a harpist,” Reverend Wright explained, “a woman who at first glance appears to be sitting atop a great mountain. Until you take a closer look and see that the woman is bruised and bloodied, dressed in tattered rags, the harp reduced to a single frayed string. Your eye is then drawn down to the scene below, down to the valley below, where everywhere are the ravages of famine, the drumbeat of war, a world groaning under strife and deprivation.

“It is this world, a world where cruise ships throw away more food in a day than most residents of Port-au-Prince see in a year, where white folks’ greed runs a world in need, apartheid in one hemisphere, apathy in another hemisphere…That’s the world! On which hope sits!”

And so it went, a meditation on a fallen world. While the boys next to me doodled on their church bulletin, Reverend Wright spoke of Sharpsville and Hiroshima, the callousness of policy makers in the White House and in the State House. As the sermon unfolded, though, the stories of strife became more prosaic, the pain more immediate. The reverend spoke of the hardship that the congregation would face tomorrow, the pain of those far from the mountaintop, worrying about paying the light bill…

Obama cannot explain away in one day 20 years of sitting under the teachings of a racist, it is just not that simple, look at me, I am a white woman who was born in 1957, and I to this day get blamed for slavery that happened over 100 years ago

OK, I have really had enough of this phony sleaze bag. This “major speech” on race is a despicable attempt to join himself among the ranks of JFK and Mitt Romney, people who faced UNFAIR and BIGOTED criticism because of their respective religions, and therefore had to give speeches asking for tolerance and acceptance. The criticisms of Obama, on the other hand, and his ties to the racist, hateful rhetoric of “Rev.” Wright, are FAIR and REASONABLE. I no longer simply disagree with Barack Obama’s Marxist beliefs; I genuinely do not like this man. In his interview on Fox News, he was sweating, and swaying, and blinking, and mumbling; in other words, he was LYING. And he doesn’t lie any prettier than any other political hack does. Obama doesn’t need to give me any speeches on race. I’m afraid I know exactly how he feels about race, and it ain’t pretty, and it ain’t gonna get him elected president. What a narcissistic disgrace this guy is.

A little refresher course. These are not isolated comments. They represent a pattern of hatred and division. So honestly, when I hear Obama blathering about coming together, and knowing that this hatemonger is his inspiration, you’ll forgive me if I think Obama is full of crap.

Any sort of attempt to explain this away does not make it through the BS screen.

Assuming Wright lost his marbles whenever Obama was not in church (and only then), does it not follow that other church members would have mentioned something to Obama the next time they saw him in church….like “wow, did you hear….Pastor Wright went off the deep end and lost his marbles last Sunday. It was a bizzar tirade that I found very offensive….it was sooo out of the ordinary from his usual social gospel of healing racial and social divisions”